


Wash Me in the Blood

by The_Shy_One



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Developing Friendships, First Meetings, Gen, Light Angst, Mandalorian Jason Todd, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Shy_One/pseuds/The_Shy_One
Summary: Paz decides to contact the number that the Armorer had given him all those months ago when the Covert fled from Nevarro.
Relationships: Paz Vizsla & Jason Todd, The Armorer (The Mandalorian TV) & Paz Vizsla
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	Wash Me in the Blood

They’d scattered after realizing that the Imps had taken over the town and wanted to crush the Covert underneath their heels at any cost. 

Paz had argued to stay, to battle since this was their home. It was their right to stay here, their right to battle to keep it for themselves after all they’d lost when the Empire had destroyed Mandalore. It had worked at first, invigorating the spirits of everyone to continue the fight. The only one who’d opposed had been the Armorer, she’d suggested that they scatter to save themselves - but had conceded on the grounds that she would stay around to protect them, preserve their culture when they could drag they're fallen back to her.

But the longer they stayed, the more they lost. Paz had known that the Siege of Mandalore had been a horrific event, something that caused many of their own to hide even from each other since his buir had a look in her eyes when she explained that to him as a young man. It was far away, filled with this deep sorrow that he would never completely understand. But this battle against the Storm Troopers to keep their home in the sewers of Nevarro continued to turn up fallen comrades, frightened and lost foundlings who were losing their family, one by one.

At some point, Paz and the others who were invigorated to keep their home had to realize that this was a losing battle. 

No matter what pride they had about the Covert, their home, it wasn’t strong that they’d risk the foundlings experiencing loss once more. Paz watched as the remaining members of the Covert took the foundlings as they headed off the volcanic planet, wondering if his pride had caused more loss than prevented it. 

He doesn’t move, watching the last of what he’d come to call family leave his sight. The Armorer silently walked up beside him, somehow still remaining a calm presence despite all that had happened. Silence graces the space between them, forcing Paz to remember what led them all here. 

“You must go, Paz,” The Armorer said, gentle with a hint of a command hidden in her tone of voice. “I can handle myself with the fallen.”

“Do you forgive me?” He asks. He has to know, has to know for sure before he leaves.

She tilts her head, thinking over her words. Then,” You don’t need forgiveness from me, Paz. Only the knowledge that you were trying to keep your family together as did the rest of the Covert. Nothing could have changed your minds until it affected the foundlings.”

Paz swallows, ashamed despite knowing it was a comfort that his leader had never been mad at him for rallying everyone together for something that would become a lost cause. Pride, pride was always his downfall despite knowing it was a glaring weakness.

“Go Paz, find a place to lay low.” She said, still his leader. When he doesn’t move towards his ship, she continues to speak.“If not, here’s a contact that I’m sure will be glad to take you in.” She hands him a piece of paper with a string of numbers, a contact that he could rely on.

It was an unfamiliar number, but surely a trustworthy one if in the hands of the Armorer.

Paz holds it close, giving his leader a single nod in gratitude. She turns it, staring up at him for a moment. Even with his height and bulk, the Armorer managed to stand taller than him with her presence alone. Her words, always calm and calculated brought her respect among the Covert without a question of who she was protecting.

“Ret’urcye mhi,” Paz said.

“Ret’urcye mhi,” She returns.

They move away from each other, going to do what was expected of them now. Paz keeps Nevarro insight as he leaves on his ship, hoping she was able to perform her duties and escape as well. It was what she deserved after all she had done for him, for the rest of the Covert. 

__________

  
  


Paz tries to be on his own. He tries for a few months, tries to keep himself from drawing attention beyond the obvious that he’s Mandalorian. But somehow he’s always ending up on the Imps’ radar even with keeping to himself in small communities. He guesses that gaining favour with the power that enforces itself on the people was easier than harbouring someone who minds his own business, even pays for his own things when interacting with them.

After narrowly escaping the last group of Storm Troopers, killing them all to keep the others nearby off his trail, Paz decides to use that piece of paper to contact whoever had the Armorer’s trust. He does it while floating around a small moon, out of sight of watchful eyes - wanting to be calm when speaking to whoever was on the other end.

It pings, continues to ping as Paz watches the holo. He waits, watching and listening for anything that would tell him that the person picked up. The pings continue, Paz’s hope lessening with each resounding sound that comes through the small holodeck.

After a while, Paz turns off the holodeck, knowing he wasn’t going to get anyone. He was stupid to think that he was going to find a way to survive with another trusted person, that there wasn’t a limit on the Armorer’s kindness when she handed him the contact number.

He sighs and goes to land the ship on the moon. Landing in a clearing, Paz goes to do his routine before finding himself exhausted to finally sleep on the berth that was tucked away. It was the only way he could function after everything that happened since he couldn’t divert money towards alcohol to numb himself - fuel cost so much even for the ships that weren’t as big as the Razor Crest - and he didn’t want to end up spending money on someone to give him a pleasure to forget for a few hours. 

He still had some pride even if he felt that he shouldn’t.

__________

Paz wakes with a start when there's a resounding and heavy knock against the hull of the ship. Heart pounding, he gets up and checks on what could be banging against his ship in the cockpit. Through the windshield, there’s no movement in the darkness, nothing that would suggest that someone wanted to cause him harm. Then another round of knocking happened, making Paz desperate to see what was in the darkness of the night.

Like clockwork, the knocking starts and goes. There’s a pattern to it, one that starts to sound like a code the longer Paz listens to it. Quietly, he moves around his ship, trying to find a weapon he can use if this ends up being a trap. He finds a blastor, holds it in his hand as he moves to open up the ramp to peer into the darkness.

There was nothing for a few moments, silence making the ringing in his ears more prominent, the pounding of his heart the only thing he could feel besides his hand on the blaster. The silence stretches out, holding as he waits for whatever caused the knocking. But he holds his arm steady as he holds up the blastor. Paz wouldn’t be caught off guard, no matter how much he’s lost. 

Then a bright light comes on, shining at Paz, blinding him for a moment. He holds a hand to his visor, trying to see beyond the white ring to what was behind it.

“You the one who called me?” A voice calls out. It’s gruff but younger, younger than he expected for someone who was in contact with the Armorer.

“Only one here,” He answers. The light moves closer and he sees a red helmet with a light attachment to the side. It was an odd shape, not the usual mould that he’s seen in the Covert. But there was a familiar swope of the language that his buir taught him in black paint on top that he knew it was another Mandalorian. 

“Good.” They said, moving closer. Paz saw a few more pieces of red durasteel armour to protect the most important parts of the body but went without the rest like Din would do so that the foundlings would have more when he came home with money. “Didn’t want a hassle with more than one person.” 

“Who’re you?” Paz asks. He watches as they stopped for a moment, looking at him through their visor. 

“Red Hood.” They finally said after a bit.

Paz frowns at that, wondering why that sounds so familiar. “A bounty alias?”

Red Hood snorts, amused by his question. “You haven’t heard of the Bat Clan? Where’ve you been living, under a rock?”

Oh.

Well, the helmet shape makes sense now. And why the Armorer had given him the string of numbers all those months ago, trusting whoever was on the other end of them.

The Bat Clan were an infamous bunch of Mandalorians, creating their own order with their leader Batman while sticking to the ones that would recognize them as Mandalorians. Paz hadn’t expected one of them to come to find him, but he wasn’t going to be picky about who was going to help keep him safe from part of the galaxy that wanted to see him and other Mandalorians dead.

“I hadn’t heard of you,” He admits. They were always expanding or just dropping old aliases for new ones. It was hard to keep up on which it was when only one was allowed to go out to earn money.

“Well, you know now. Any particular reason why you contacted me if you didn’t know my name?” He tilted his head, the light moving with his movement. Paz noticed was young, younger than Din if he was gauging the age of the voice correctly.

“The Armorer gave me the number in case I needed it.”

Red Hood paused at that. “You knew her?”

“She was my leader.” Paz watches as the Red Hood comes closer, looking him over. Seeing if there was anything he was lying about. “We ran into a problem with the Imps on Nevarro and had to flee. She gave me that number to contact if I ran into trouble or didn’t want to do this alone.”

“It’s a bit outdated. That was Bat’s old number.” Red Hood explained after a moment. “Took it figuring I could get some jobs that way. Fuel prices are outrageous these days.” Paz looks as the young man walks towards the ramp. “I’m betting you wouldn’t mind staying with me since I have a berth that’ll fit your body,” He continues, voice sounding light now.

He was teasing Paz.

It felt good to be teased again. It felt friendly, something he sorely missed all these months after the Covert scattered.

Paz grins. He wouldn’t say no to a berth that could his whole body. Nor to a companion that would watch his back and provide him with jobs. 

“I wouldn’t say no to that.”

“Good. We’ll wait until morning to leave, so better get everything packed up.”

Paz didn’t need to be told twice.

**Author's Note:**

> My first work for the year 2021! Yay! 
> 
> Got this idea a few days ago, but was only able to write it out on New Years Day due to some stuff. But I'm so glad I was able to since it was fun. I love Jason being a Mandalorian, he fits perfectly into that role in Star Wars. :D
> 
> Hopefully, it was a fun one-shot to read! :D


End file.
